My visit to International Wolf Center

Just last week I visited Ely, Minnesota for the sole purpose of meeting with the folks of the International Wolf Center. I didn’t realize it also was the home to the Bear Center AND that weekend was the blueberry festival – a huge draw for such a small town. Man, I wish I would have come up just one day later so I could take in the festival. But then again, the drive was bad enough from all the road construction.

First, I came to this place with an open heart and mind while I was meeting with Jess Edberg, Information Services Director. Like I mentioned in my last post, I was told they are non-activist, but if you care for wolf pups, I bet you tend to be very protective. Jess was very kind to sit down with me and discuss the history of the center, their mission and their thoughts on the future of wolf hunting. (Background: Jess is a deer hunter and says she has taken a deer every year since she moved to Ely about seven years ago.)

I was lucky enough to be able to attend their “Pups 101” seminar where they give wolf facts in a Powerpoint presentation (with some video) and then they actually bring the pups in the room (behind a gate). The pups are huge for only being born in the spring of this year! During the Q&A session at the end, I was surprised (or maybe I shouldn’t have been) how many questions were asked about wolf hunting in Minnesota. Jess was in the room at the time and answered the questions very well. One question that I thought came across particularly well was when a gent asked about the quota of wolves to hunt in a season and how that will affect the population. Jess responded that with the current quota of 400, there is no way that is going to put a dent in the current population of more than 3,000 wolves. That’s only 13 percent of the population and their research has shown the population would need to decline by around 40 percent in order for the results to be borderline game-changing for the wolves.

Part of that could be wolves are prolific breeders with the average litter size being around four to six pups. But, as Jess informed me, they’ll lose one or two pups every year due to natural predators etc.

And let’s face it, folks, will Minnesotans even get to the quota of 400? My bets are on the wolf. After watching Randy Newberg’s upcoming episode (which I mentioned in my last post) and seeing how hard he worked just to find one wolf, I doubt we’ll reach that quota. And if we do this year, you can bet the cunning wolf will have figured us out so that the 2013 season will be even more difficult.

What I most respected about Jess’s answers is she’s very passionate of basing them on science. Both sides of the issue get caught up in rhetoric and emotional bias. Heck, you could even say my last blog post had some of that. (But that’s why its my blog for my thoughts and feelings)  If you are going to throw out facts and figures, attribute it to a source, at the very least.

I don’t believe the wolf is a sinner, nor do I believe he’s a saint. I believe he needs to be managed, just like any other wildlife. Human vs wolf interactions are going to happen just like Humann vs deer or any other species. Do I feel a threat from the wolf? Not at all. When I camp, I’ll be prepared for any encounter I may have. No matter if its a bunch of drunks kids on a four-wheeler (happened) or a wolf.

P.S. If you’d like to post a comment, please keep it brief as my eyes will glaze over if you post anything beyond 300 words.